Emerging immune-associated biomarkers in solid tumors

In the era of personalized oncology, implementation of reliable biomarkers with prognostic and predictive value is necessary, the latter being most important with the introduction of immunotherapy as the backbone of treatment regimen in common solid tumors. Advancements in understanding tumor microenvironment (TME) has revealed immune-associated biomarkers with clinical significance. Assessment of tumor infiltrating lymphocytes including T cell cytotoxic lymphocytes in the TME has demonstrated prognostic impact in solid tumors, even though discrepancies among different studies pose a limitation in the translation to routine practice. Besides, evaluation of programmed death ligand 1 (PD-L1) is the main biomarker predicting response to immune-checkpoint inhibitors. However, PD-L1 status can be an unreliable biomarker. Hence, there is an unmet need to implement novel clinically reliable biomarkers, which will improve patient stratification and treatment efficacy.

The goal of this special issue is to improve our understanding of current and novel immune-associated biomarkers and demonstrate how these in turn could be implemented in daily practice. Introduction of novel immune-associated biomarkers is strongly associated with advancements in immune landscape both in primary lesions, as well as in metastatic lesions and peripheral circulation. Hence, a central objective of this issue includes studies that demonstrate the clinical value of immune-associated components, including immune cells or immune mediators (like chemokines and cytokines) in solid tumors. Along this line, we encourage studies that demonstrate the development of novel biomarkers with clinical value as well as studies that provide novel evidence for currently available biomarkers with prognostic and predictive value.

We welcome Original Research, Reviews, Mini Reviews, Systematic Reviews, Perspectives, Hypothesis & Theory, and Brief Research Reports focusing on the development of immune-associated biomarkers on solid tumors based on:

(1) spatial analysis, including single and multiplex in situ assays to study the spatial distribution and the corresponding clinical role of tumor infiltrating lymphocytes such as lymphocytes in different cell states (i.e. T cell exhaustion), tissue associated macrophages, druggable molecules (i.e. PD-L1, CD47) and mediators of inflammation (i.e. cytokines and chemokines)

(2) transcriptomic or proteomic analysis of tissue specimens along with integration of publicly available datasets

(3) immunophenotypic analysis of blood or body fluids

(4) mechanistic analysis



Biomarkers with prognostic and/or predictive value are equally valued.